PAGE ONE -- Dream of Unsnarled Traffic Far Off for Contra Costa

Published 4:00 am, Monday, October 28, 1996

Contra Costa County commuters who have spent years in traffic jams awaiting the end of frustrating freeway construction projects may be in for deja vu all over again.

True, the 298,000 motorists who drive through the Interstate 680- Highway 24 interchange should get some relief in 1998, after the nine-year construction project that has delayed traffic and befuddled drivers with confusing lane changes is finished.

But booming development in east and south Contra Costa County and parts of neighboring Solano and Alameda counties will create a new set of nightmares along stretches of every freeway and most major thoroughfares in the East Bay suburbs.

By 2010, almost twice as many vehicles will squeeze onto some stretches of freeway that are already nearly unbearable during rush hour, traffic analysts predict.

Cindy and Mike Hill moved to Antioch seven years ago because they were looking for an affordable home in an area with a small- town feeling. But Mike, who owns a construction company and often works in the South Bay, spends three hours a day commuting, while Cindy, who works at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek, ends up in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Cindy Hill, like thousands of other east Contra Costa commuters, often takes Highway 4 to Pittsburg, then gets off and drives on Kirker Pass Road -- a thoroughfare that cuts through the hills to Concord and becomes Ygnacio Valley Road.

"Kirker Pass is good until you get over the hill, then it stops in Concord," Hill said. "There's no real good shortcut. Everyone has found them."

East county commute woes should ease a little when BART opens its new Bay Point/Pittsburg station in December, but traffic projections show that won't be enough. The Contra Costa Transportation Authority says in 2010, drivers can expect the worst problems on Highway 4 in Antioch and on Highway 4 through the Willow Pass between Bay Point and Concord, along with I-680 between Walnut Creek and Concord and another stretch of I-680 between Danville and Walnut Creek.

The problem is simple -- too many cars and not enough money for highway improvements. Widening freeways and thoroughfares is also unlikely because many politicians and environmentalists believe it would just spur more residential growth. In fact, Caltrans' original plans for a network of freeways, including links between Walnut Creek and Pittsburg, and Moraga and Danville, were shot down in the '70s and '80s.

"I think it's a myth to think we can build our way out of traffic problems," said Robert McCleary, director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority. "We'll work to give the public the best value that we can, but at some point there's only so much that can be done. We're forecasting gridlock for 20 years from now."

The dismaying news may not be a surprise to Contra Costa residents, who have seen their daily commutes lengthen even as lanes were added to some freeways and major thoroughfares such as Ygnacio Valley Road. The improvements have been no match for the growth that has seen Brentwood named as the fastest-growing city in California this year. Antioch and San Ramon became major cities in the past decade.

Even people who tried to avoid traffic problems have found their efforts thwarted. Michael Markowitz moved from Concord to south Walnut Creek eight years ago so he wouldn't have to drive through the 680-24 interchange to his Danville law practice. But as thousands of jobs have been added in business parks in San Ramon and Pleasanton, traffic crawls on 680 south of the interchange.

FRONTAGE ROAD QUICKER

"It's a mess," Markowitz said. "Most mornings nowadays I take the frontage road because it's quicker."

Even so, it takes Markowitz 30 minutes to drive just a few miles. And, like thousands of other commuters, he said he cannot take public transit or carpool. He needs his car during the day to make court appearances in Martinez, Richmond or Pittsburg.

About 17,300 central Contra Costa commuters who work in Alameda County or San Francisco take BART, making the Concord line the busiest line in the system, said BART spokesman Ron Rodriquez. Most commuters, however, are willing to endure stop-and-go traffic to get to work.

Caltrans spokesman Greg Bayol said Contra Costa County is second only to Alameda County for vehicle delays. Contra Costa commuters spend a total of 13,400 hours a day in slow traffic, with the worst tie-ups on Highway 4 from Antioch to the Willow Pass, at the 680-24 interchange, on Highway 24 before the Caldecott Tunnel and on I-680 through San Ramon Valley.

WEATHER DELAYS

The completion of the Walnut Creek interchange should ease commutes for many people. The $315 million project, the largest of its type in Northern California, has been plagued by construction accidents and rain-caused delays that threw it a year behind schedule.

"It doesn't seem like it's going real fast," said David Camille, a Benicia resident who goes through the interchange every day on the way to his job at Unocal's business office in San Ramon. "If they can rebuild a complete freeway in L.A. in a couple of weeks, why can't they rebuild a little interchange faster?"

Those feelings are shared by many commuters, acknowledged Caltrans spokeswoman Victoria Pike. But she said the interchange reconstruction, which involves new on- and off-ramps, new and wider bridges and 7.5 miles of freeway widening, is far more complicated than rebuilding earthquake- damaged Interstate 10 in Los Angeles.

"You're dealing with 298,000 cars going through the interchange. It's a constant effort to move traffic while building elevated structures," Pike said.

The new interchange will have at least three lanes in each direction and a more logical configuration that eliminates weaving, so traffic should move more smoothly, although "during peak hours you're never going to have people flying through this interchange at 55 or 65 miles an hour," Pike said.

CHRONICLE GRAPHIC

ABOUT THE SERIES

Today's "Commuter Chronicles" continues a weekly series of stories exploring the practical aspects of transportation and commuting in the Bay Area. Each Monday, the series features articles aimed at getting behind the political controversies and real-life vexations that readers face every day on buses, trains and BART, highways and byways.

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